Narrow gauge ballasting

 I continued with working on the tracks of the narrow gauge micro layout. With the sleepers and rails painted, ballasting was the next job on the list. I opted for a light coloured mix of different Woodland Scenics ballast, namely 873 Fine Buff (biggest content), 874 Fine Light Grey and 875 Fine Grey. For the first time I used Woodland Scenics "Scenic Cement" to glue the ballast down. I must say it worked really well. It is of course more expensive than the traditional method using wood glue, water and a drop of washing up liquid, but it is very efficient.

I left some ballast on the sleepers in some spots that I normally would have carefully brushed away. This to reflect a  little less maintained track bed. Finally, I greened the roadbed up with materials from various suppliers. Once everything was dry I removed any ballast on spots where it should not sit. In this process often the rust paint also comes off, leaving annoying, shiny silvery spots. I touched up these spots with Humbrol 113. On a next layout I might do the painting of the rails with Humbrol 113 only after everything is ballasted. With the current method I seem to have to do the painting twice.. I am curious if that would be a more time saving approach.

I will still go over everything with another round of weathering, but so far I am really pleased with the effect.

"Catching-up" on the newly ballasted narrow gauge line.

The ballast is mixed. Let's start the fun..

First stage completed. Now the detail work starts with removing ballast in the wrong spots, filling up "holes", adding plants, re-painting spots, ...

Letting it dry. The shiny appearance will disappear once the Scenic Cement is dry.

Some more images of the finished job: